Aristophanes And Why I’m Blogging Again

I haven’t written publicly much since 2008 or so when Andy Hagans (now AndyHagans.com, then at TropicalSEO.com) and I had a silly bet on who could accumulate subscribers faster. He won (kills me to write that), but that bet and the subsequent spamming of Digg’s front page (that used to be a big thing, kids!) and the rest of the early Social Internet turned out to be amazingly useful in getting our personal brands in front of millions of people.

As my personal brand grew, I realized that the blogging was having no material effect on the bottom line. Anyone who knows me has heard me retread Rod Tidwell’s, “It’s not Showfriends!”. I’m unapologetically motivated by the Almighty Dollar and allergic to most things that don’t support that. Those who could afford what I was charging and those I wanted to work with already knew who I was. I also had no intent on going “over the radar”, which I believe can be a double-edged sword for many SEO’s and online marketers. So, I shut it down, grew a few businesses, sold a few businesses, got married, started a family, and pretty much focused on Twitter as my platform to interact with the outside world. And it’s been great for years.

Yet, as much as everyone wants Tweetstorms to replace blogs, blogging is a great way to think through or share more complex ideas. Within 1500 -2500 words, I can address a problem, kick around some ideas, communicate with others, and eventually find some religion…and that’s what I miss. That’s why I love Aristophanes’s, “By words the mind is winged.” Writing allows me to materialize and stress test my thoughts quicker. I’m better for it. When I’m better, my clients and my work are better.

Clients and friends will tell you that I like to bucketize things or weight them. It’s a loose way of defining tactics and success metrics and, more broadly, it’s how humans are wired. So, if I had to weight why I’m here:

50% I miss writing. It helps me clear my head, beat up hypotheses, and figure out what to focus on.

20% Most everyone who needs to know me for my businesses does, but there is a new generation who doesn’t.

15% I get to see some cool stuff from big brands, prominent people, investors, and cool startups that doesn’t get talked about elsewhere.

15% Much like Matt Cutts uses his blog as a test bed and to stay current on what’s working, this gives me some freedom to try things and evolve strategy that can benefit clients and/or other projects.

So, nice to see everyone again and, for those I haven’t met, I’m looking forward to it. I may write once a day, once a week, or once a year. I’m not really sure. We’ll figure it out as we go.

Brian Provost

I share unique insights from the Internet strategies of Big Brands, prominent startups and Wall Street. You can find me at the social links below.